


What is that Melody?

by LucyEvans11



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Baby Winston, Baby Winston is a trouble maker, Canonical Character Death, Forgotten Memories, Gone but not forgotten, Harold Best Dad, Horizon Lunar Colony (Overwatch), Long-Distance Friendship, M/M, Memories, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Moira O'Deorain - Freeform, Music for Memories, Old Friends, One-Shot, Science Bros, Sedation, Sedative Use, Talon Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, What is the Melody?, can't remember, maths is hard, video calls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 15:40:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20392093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyEvans11/pseuds/LucyEvans11
Summary: There is a song that plays in Sigma's mind. A melody that reminds him of a friend... a friend he grew very close to. Someone who was always there to talk, even if they were worlds away. Sigma thinks back to the first time he met the scientist Dr Harold Winston... and the small bundle that he loved... if only he could remember...





	What is that Melody?

“What is that melody?” Siebren asked chuckling at his colleagues choice of background music.

“What? It’s a classic, you know that.” Harold laughed. Siebren watched his colleague reach off screen to hold up his mobile. “It’s by…” his voice mumbled. Maybe the camera had a bit of a glitch as Sibren had missed the name of the piece. He shook his head, he would ask him later. “Anyway… how are your experiments going?”

“Oh I’m making progress.” Siebren tapped his tablet. Streams of notes and equations flashed up. He flicked around the digital pages. “We’ve come a long way from the apple falling from the tree.”

“We definitely have.” Harold laughed. “Without work in your area. I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

“You would not.” Siebren nodded. “You would be floating around and this conversation would be far more amusing from my point of view.” Harold laughed even harder. Siebern had always been drawn to the other scientist. In his world of equations and mathmatics Harold was the only chaotic factor he enjoyed. In his work something was either true or false. When an equation and experiment worked out, Siebren felt a great sense of accomplishment. If it did not, the investigation to find the imbalance began. Sometimes a simple glance over the equation the next day made his error obvious. Other times he would nearly tear his hair out. He had ignored experiments for weeks when the equations failed to balance or reveal to him why they refused to work. It was in one of these breaks he had been offered a trip to see what some of his research had amounted to. A trip to the Luna Colony. He didn’t expect to gain much from said trip. He intended to go and accept the praise of his work had helped. Enjoy the sight of the earth from the moon. Then he might be able to test a few small experiments out on the surface of the moon with it’s reduced gravity. He certainly didn’t plan to keep in contact with one of the inhabitants. Talk about long distance.

***

“Dr de Kuiper. We are honoured that you have taken time out of your schedule to visit us.” He was greeted by another scientist. He forgot their name, but he could tell immediately they were trying to make a good impression. He nodded to them to be polite.

“Yes. I am very honoured to be invited to such a…” he looked around. “Marvel of human technology and ingenuity.”

“Thank you sir. We have you to thank that we are able to work as efficiently here.” the rest of his words started to drone off into a low buzzing. Nothing he hadn’t heard already before as he was guided around. For a group of biologists, this was an impressive station. They were successfully growing plants and maintaining an ecosystem. Lots of other people in lab coats walked around him. Most stopping to greet him and try more chatter. Their words sounded garbled, maybe he just wasn’t paying attention enough to work out what they were saying. His guide walked him through to a small lounge.

“And what happens in here?” He tried to pretend he was paying attention to the prattle.

“Oh… this is the break room. We come in here to grab some food or just relax in the company of others.” They explained. He scanned the room. The room was mostly empty apart from a few occupants. They caught his attention. A man was sitting in a chair and reading, short brown hair, white lab coat, an orange turtleneck with smart black trousers. The person himself was not very interesting. The small blue… baby gorilla pawing at the man's glasses was not what he expected to see. If it was him… well he wouldn ‘t let such an untrained creature near him. This man though seemed content for the primate to continue to paw at his glasses. The primate was dressed in a small white space suit, his hands and feet free to do as they please.

“Do you have an explanation for the escaped primate?” he asked, unable to take his eyes away from the scene.

“Oh that’s Dr Winston. He’s the primary caretaker of our genetically enhanced mammals program.” The guide said.

“Enhanced mammals?” Siebren queried.

“Yes, we are experimenting to see what chemicals could eventually be used to help the human race. We can’t quite test as easily on humans, but we have managed to get the funding and trails completed to test on mammals.” The person seemed impressed. Siebren never liked biology. Too many unreliable variables than physics. Too many random data factors that could skew the entire set of results. “Dr Winston… meet Dr de Kuiper. He’s visiting our base.” The man looked up from his book. The primate whined as the glasses were now out of his reach. He looked to the primate.

“Come on. Best behaviour. We are gonna meet someone new.” He said to the primate. Siebren was surprised to see what he could understand was an intelligent response. They climbed up onto the scientists back as he stood up. As Dr Winston walked over to them, the primate stole his glasses. Siebren was expecting the primate to be scolded but he just laughed. “Okay, you can look after them for now.” The primate childishly put on the glasses and looked at Siebren. He didn’t know how he felt about this. He gave his guide a questioning look.

“Yes… he erm… is very close with Specimen 28.” He looked a little embarrassed.

“I see.” Siebren said curtly. Looking to the other. “Are you still able to see efficiently?”

“Oh yeah, I will be fine. Everything is just a little out of focus.” Dr Winston brushed it off.

“And he won’t break them?” He regarded the primate with suspicion. The primate gave him a curious look back through the glasses.

“Oh no. He’s very well behaved and intelligent.” Dr Winston assured him. He looked to the primate and tapped his nose. The primate tilted his head a little. “Glasses.” he tapped his nose again and closed his eyes. Siebren was stunned. Of all the factors that could have gone wrong in the action, the primate successfully replaced the glasses on Dr Winston's nose. He did it slowly and gently.

“Fascinating.” Siebren let slip under his breath before regaining his composure.

“Dr Winston has a spare bunk in his room and has offered to share it with you.” The guide said slowly. “Though I will understand if you’d rather share with someone with less…” The guide looked at the primate. “Interactive work.”

“I promise I don’t snore.” Dr Winston smiled. “Neither does he.” The primate nodded. What was this setup? Was this man really a scientist? Everything inside him screamed to pick a different person, but he couldn’t help his curiosity. This man also seemed to be an anomaly in an equation that would unbalance the forces and cause him stress. Though he actually seemed the most balanced.

“I will share with you.” He offered his hand. “Siebren.” Offering his first name was a good way to start things. The other took his hand and gave him a first handshake.

“Harold.” He smiled. As he pulled his hand back he noticed another hand was reaching out for him. Looking to the primate with their arm outstretched. Siebren looked to the primate. “You don’t need t-” Harold started to speak but Sibren had already reached and shook the small gorilla's hand. He was greeted by a big smile from them both. Interesting, very interesting.

***

Harold was laughing as he looked back at the screen. Siebren shook his head as he tried to focus his thoughts.

“You okay there? Thinking back to when we met?” Harold asked.

“I was…” He said slowly. He suddenly remembered. “You asked about my work?”

“Yes. How is it going?” Harold asked.

“Oh I’m making progress.” Siebren replied as he flicked through his notes. He soon came across an equation that was incomplete. He felt a twitch. “Apart from this one.” He opened the page and the equation projected itself up on the board behind him.

“That looks complicated. You want to explain it to me?” Harold asked as he squinted at the screen. Before his trip Sibren would have rejected the offer as if he didn’t understand something, how could anyone be expected to understand it. He was doing breakthrough work with gravity. Something he hoped to harness in the long term. Yet here was his dedicated friend with no physics background helping him. Helping him in a method he learnt on that visit.

***

“So…” Sibern examined the bunk he was assigned. “Do you always play that music?” He looked at the small speaker.

“It helps me relax.” Harold shrugged.

“So...You are a biologist. What areas did you study?”

“I studied in biochemistry and behavioural psychology.” Harold said rather proud of himself.

“Why did you pick those subjects?” He asked curiously, turning back to his companion.

“Well…” He scratched the back of his neck. “I wanted to help humanity. I want to see if there are secrets in our coding, in our genetics that could help make us better people.” The baby gorilla climbed up the ladder to the top bunk and sat there. Looking at the two of them. He called out and rubbed his tummy. To Sibern these actions were meaningless. To Harold however, they were a strong form of communication. “Don’t worry buddy, I got it.” He walked over to one side of the room and pulled out a small tub of peanut butter. The gorilla jumped up and down excitedly, making little grabby motions to him. Harold chuckled and handed over the tub. The gorilla sat down and opened it with no problem and started to enjoy the treat.

“If you wanted to help humanity… why are you on the moon observing specimens?” He asked curiously.

“Well… I started with high and lofty ideals but then, do we really need to focus more on ourselves.” His gaze drifting to the window. “Maybe we should look at the behaviours in those around us instead of claiming our behaviour to be right.”

“Your research is such a contrast to my own.” Sibern said softly. “It is fascinating in its chaos.”

“I’m going to take that as a compliment.” he grinned. “What are you working on?”

“Well… I would like to be able to control gravity. To harness the harness as it were.” He said rather proud. He heard sniggering. To his surprise Harold was doing his best not to laugh.

“Harness the harness?” He repeated. “You are going for that?”

“Yes.” Sibern said defiantly. “I wish to be able to control gravity.” He had never had such a reaction to his research goals before. 

“You know if anyone else had said that. I’d call them crazy.” He tried to regain his composure. “But I’ve seen your work. We are living proof that gravity can be manipulated to an extent.” Sibern nodded to him, still trying to work out if he was being complimented or insulted.

“Thanks. Though I am currently stuck on a difficult equation. Though I doubt you would be able to help me…” He looked away as the equations started to plague his thoughts.

***

The method he had learned was apparently common practice. He started to explain to Harold the mathematics and the forces at work within the equation. He hummed and nods from the other side of the screen. Harold had explained a method where as you explain your work to someone else. The answer to your problem can become clear. He was skeptical of course but he tried the method and it did work. He never really struggled with equations half as much as he was able to contact Harold to go over it. He was always attentive and if it didn’t work on the first or the second try, Harold would leave the screen and come back with Specimen 28 and he Sibern would try again. The Specimen had been making great progress of his own. He spoke basic English and was conducting his own experiments, with supervision of course. He was Harold's pride and joy, just as much as Sibern's equations were to him. 

He solved so many equations setting up for his big experiment. He was going to harness the harness. He would be going back into space soon. He tried to call Harold again. The screen flicked on as if it had never been gone but Harold was missing. Maybe he had forgotten he’d left the camera on. He knew it wasn’t frozen because that song he was always playing was on. Maybe another time.

“We’ve come a long way from the apple falling from the tree.” Sigbern said to himself as he worked. The video call left open. No one on the other side. He was starting to miss his companion. Every so often he would check and there Harold was. Smiling and telling him about the progress he had been making.

“You know he’s just started working words. It’s only early days but I do believe he could learn to speak English with enough practice.” That music playing softly behind him. There was a question he needed to ask Harold, but he forgot.

Sigmrn was working hard. He’d gotten his place on the International Space Station. He had to tell Harold about it. It wasn’t the Luna Colony but they would both be in space.

“I’m stuck on an equation…” Sibern said to his friend. “A really tough one.”

“Let me go and get the little guy.” Harold smiled. “He’s getting better. He’s starting to make sounds. He might one day manage a word.” He brought the small gorilla into shot as Sibern started to read the equations on his board.

“They… don’t make sense!” He shouted. “I need them to balance before the experiment!” He walked over to the screen. This day he wasn’t there. Harold must be busy Sigam decided. “I’ll catch him later.

He was there. The moment of truth as he flicked the switch. Starting his experiment. The experiment that will allow him to control gravity. He flicked the switch and the machine turned on. Humming to life. He checked all his charts. Everything looked like it was good to go. He took a breath and began the experiment.

‘I will harness the harness!’ his own words echoed around. He could hear a light chuckle from a familiar voice. Alongside that voice… the music… the music that always played. Whether the voice was there or not. That music played. He could feel pain, he saw white yet that music persisted. It continued to play no matter how loud he screamed out loud.

“I need to sedate him!” A strong female voice ordered through the music.

“I’m holding him down. Do it!” A dark voice rasped over his screaming. The pain suddenly seemed to vanish. And odd pin prick at his neck. 

“Sleep well Sigma.” The female voice said gently. The pain began to fade. The light slowly began to dim as he closed his eyes. Feeling himself drift off, but that music, it was still playing.

“What is that melody?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed this fic! It was my first time writing these guys. I loved writing Sigma and may write more for these two in the future.
> 
> In the meantime I have some obscure ships that need more love. Until next time~


End file.
